Auroral particle distribution functions and their relationships to inverted vs and auroral arcs. Technical report

Technical Report · Mon Apr 12 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6705263

Fennell, J F; Gorney, D J; Mizera, P F

Utilizing data from three satellites the document presents the relationship between the particle energy and angular distributions, the resulting auroral forms, and spatial features such as the inverted V and electrostatic structures. The occurrence of field-aligned electrons over a wide range of energies near and at the edges of inverted V structures in the low altitude local evening auroral region is an outstanding feature in the data. The DMSP pictures often show a brightening of the auroral form in coincidence with similar intense electron precipitation at the edges of inverted V structures. Preliminary examination of the S3-3 data has produced only a few such events with a tendency for them to occur at lower altitudes. As a separate topic, a detailed description of a high altitude inverted V structure is presented using S3-3 data. The region contained strong perpendicular electric field structures embedded therein. The potential drop in the region peaks near 16 kV with 10-12 kV below and 4-6 kV above 8000 km. The modification of the electron distributions due to strong electric field structures is analyzed. The signature of the acceleration in the electrons is consistent with an acceleration region that starts 2000-4000 km above the satellite altitude of 8000 km and extends well below the satellite.

• Research Organization: Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA (USA). Space Sciences Lab.
• OSTI ID: 6705263
• Report Number(s): AD-A-114365/0
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AURORAE
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY
FERMIONS
FUNCTIONS
IONOSPHERE
LEPTONS
NIGHT SKY
PARTICLES
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
SKY